It's Just A Game
by Mirokumaru
Summary: Yuzu thought she was destined to grow up in the repetitive, dull life she had always led. Caring for her family, putting up with school, caring for her family again...But in her first year of junior high, Yuzu develops a desire to escape from the fate she had once accepted. And the world responds by sending her someone who introduces her to a new life. A new adventure. Yuzu x Yukio


Yuzu stared out the window, lost in her own world.

Outside, the afternoon sun was beating down on other junior high students. They lazed around, pretending to be putting effort only when the gym teacher turned towards them. Everything was the same. Normal.

Somewhere in the background, Yuzu could make out her teacher droning on and on about history. But her mind wasn't in class right now. It was at home, thinking of what she would be cooking for dinner tonight. Because that was the role she had realized was hers when she had matured enough: while her dad worked and her brother and sister grew up in the world, she would be the one staying behind, taking care of them. Forced to grow up by her mother's passing, Yuzu had willingly taken up the vacant spot as the mother of the family.

The teacher's lecture was getting annoying now. Yuzu's brows creased. Her plans for the evening were being pervaded by facts about dynasties and emperors. And the heat. Where was the air conditioning in this building? She let out a small sigh.

In response to her mental complaint, Yuzu felt a light breeze touch the sensitive skin of her nape.

_Oh?_

Yuzu turned around, pleasantly surprised at the sudden source of air conditioning. Behind her was a sweaty mess of a boy, Fujikawa Daiki. The glasses sitting atop his plump nose glinted, reflecting the sunlight into Yuzu's eyes, further emphasizing the grimace that crept across her delicate features. Daiki blushed, his light panting growing rapider.

Yuzu turned around, disgusted, and scooted forward. Was there no escape from her dreary, everyday life?

Up until a certain point, she had been fulfilled just by seeing her family enjoy the food she cooked for them. But now, it felt as if everyone was leaving her behind. Her sister Karin had always been aloof, and really good at hiding emotions; then again, Yuzu had cried and laughed enough to make up for the two of them. Her brother Ichigo, whom she truly loved and adored, rarely paid her any attention. He had barely even reacted to her new uniform just a couple weeks ago, even though she had worked so hard that morning to impress him. His only comment was that her fastener was open. And her father…well, Kurosaki Isshin was more of a child than anyone else in the family.

She brushed aside her bangs, and listlessly picked at the split ends of her pigtails. She knew it was selfish, but she wanted something _more_ in life. Once more, she turned and gazed yearningly at the cloudless, faded-blue sky. Somewhere within her, she believed that there was more to her destiny than growing up to take care of her father and watching her siblings leave the house, having found their paths. Somewhere out there, there was a place just for her, apart from the dinners she cooked, the lectures she barely put up with, and Daiki's perverted panting.

Under a sky this large, how could there not be?

Finally, school ended, dumping a sweaty mass of students from its sultry corridors. Noisy chatter flooded the neighborhood, and Yuzu waved to her friends, who were going off to cram school. Having inherited her mother's genes, Yuzu was relatively smart, like her older brother. She easily got above-average grades with a little self-study at home.

She hummed a little tune she had caught on the radio yesterday, and skipped down past the other students to her home.

Unlocking the door, she called out, "I'm home!" before realizing, not for the first time, that there was nobody to respond. She still wasn't used to being alone in the house. Up until just a few months ago, Karin was usually lying on the couch by the time Yuzu returned, and would toss back a lazy "Welcome back" before bringing her focus back to the television again. But now, even Karin was gone.

Ichigo, Yuzu could understand: he was always hanging out with Inoue, Chad, and Uryu, doing mysterious things around the town. So what was Karin's excuse? She never gave an explanation on where she had been, and her only apology for being late were a few candies from a nearby shop run by a shady man with a large, striped hat.

Yuzu let her bag slide from her shoulder, and sank into the couch, picking up the remote. She was just in time to catch a re-run of the previous night's episode of Don Kanonji's TV show. She had been a huge fan of Don Kanonji ever since he had made his debut, and she had gotten to personally meet him when he had showed up at her house, apparently to meet Ichigo.

She lost track of time as she stared at the television, unconsciously undoing her pigtails somewhere in the middle of the show.

Don Kanonji's signature phrase "Spirits are always with youuuu!" filled the living room just as the doorknob turned, and something heavy, most likely Karin's bag, clanked onto the floor. Yuzu rubbed her tired eyes and turned to greet her sister.

"Hey Karin!" Yuzu called out cheerfully. She got no reply.

Yuzu stood up from the couch, confused. The door was swinging wide open, but Karin was nowhere in sight. Was the lock broken?

The unkempt girl yawned, ruffling her disheveled hair, and reached out to close the door. Her hand passed through empty air.

Yuzu looked down, startled. Where there should have been a doorknob, there was a gaping, splinter-filled hole. She shuffled forward, alarmed, and rammed her right foot into something hard.

She uttered a cry of pain, and with tear-filled eyes, glanced at the object that was now rolling out the door. It was the doorknob.

Her eyes widening, Yuzu slowly backed away. Her instincts were warning her that something was off, even though her eyes clearly showed that there were no dangers near her. She grabbed her arm as goose bumps began appearing.

A creak. Yuzu swung around, her heart beating fast and her breaths coming in short bursts. She had distinctly heard a sound from the stairs behind her just now, but nothing was there. Then, before Yuzu's disbelieving eyes, the second and third stairs sank slightly, letting off an awful moaning sound. Something was on her stairs.

Paralyzed, Yuzu could only stare in horror. Sweat dripped down her chin, dropping with infinite slowness to the floor.

Yuzu finally broke out of her trance when she heard a chilling purr right in front of her face. The sticky, hot breath of the invisible entity washed over her damp face. Yuzu began running out the door.

Outside, the weather was pleasant. The afternoon was passing, giving room to a cool evening. The sun shined warmly, as if it were oblivious to the reality Yuzu was trapped in.

Gasping, Yuzu reached the driveway, and look around. Eerily, no one was in sight. Her feet stung on the gravel surface.

Before she could begin running again, she heard the purr she had heard earlier. This time, it was right next to her ear, and held a mocking tone. As if the monster knew she could not escape.

Suddenly, something large and heavy smashed into Yuzu's left side. At the same instant, she saw the assaulter was startling clarity.

The monster had a hideous, crescent-shaped mask covering the top portion of its face. Two glowing eyes bore into her, filled with the intent to kill. Under the mask was a wide, gruesome grin, showing all of its teeth. The entirety of the monster's body was a sickly white.

As she flew towards the building diagonally across from the Kurosaki clinic, heading towards an impact that would kill her instantaneously, Yuzu had one last thought.

_I've haven't even made dinner yet…_

Yuzu landed in a welcoming blackness.

The dim star moved back and forth, refusing to stay in focus. Gradually, it grew brighter. And clearer. Soon, it was like staring into the sun.

Yuzu blinked, taking in her surroundings. She was in a bed, tightly bundled in a soft, furry blanket. Squinting, Yuzu realized that the swaying light had been the ceiling lamp she had hung in her own bedroom. She rubbed sleep out of her eyes, yawning and stretching.

Abruptly, memories came rushing back to her. Realization of what had happened struck Yuzu, and she shot forward into a sitting position.

Her hand touched something warm. The frightened girl jerked back, her shoulder striking the bedroom wall. A figure was half-lying on her bed, dark hair tossed to the side.

_Karin._

Gently, Yuzu unwrapped the blanket from herself and placed it gently on her sister's shoulders. Peering closer, Yuzu realized that Karin had a damp spot under her face, which was, upon closer observation, tear-streaked. Karin had been crying. But why?

Yuzu went back to the problem at hand. She had memories of being attacked by an unworldly creature. But a quick feel of the left side of her body confirmed what she already knew: there were no injuries. In fact, her body felt wonderfully light. Free.

Before she could make sense of her memories and her perfect condition, Yuzu picked up voices downstairs. She walked quietly to the door, and gently opened the door to the hallway.

Leaning forward, she recognized two of the voices: they were her brother's and her dad's. Relieved that they were home safely, she began the painstakingly slow task of creeping down the stairs silently. Only a single light was on downstairs, filtering out through the crack of her dad's bedroom. Sneaking up to the door, Yuzu eavesdropped on the conversation.

"—sorry again. I should have noticed…" Ichigo apologized. Apologized? Why was her brother apologizing?

"Stop blaming yourself, Ichigo. You were already busy with one. It's difficult for even captains to detect others while fighting," Isshin said in a solemn voice. Yuzu was taken aback. When was the last time she had heard her father sound so serious?

Then, a third voice spoke. "Well, if you're just going to mope around like this, I'll be on my way. Later." Yuzu was instantly drawn to this voice. She reckoned that whoever was speaking was around her age, but underneath the carefree tone, she caught a little of something else. A kind of sorrow…no, was it loneliness? Both?

"Wait," Ichigo called out, as the window squeaked open. "I was being serious, back there. I'm in your debt for saving my sister. And…I'm sorry about Ginjo."

The other boy laughed. Yuzu felt her heart skip a beat; a laugh as childish as the ones she heard at school, and yet…it held such a heaviness underneath it. As if the boy had seen the entire world.

"Don't be. I had no connection to any of them anyways. And," the boy continued, his voice fading as he climbed out the window, "anyone would have saved a girl as cute as your sister."

Yuzu blushed, covering her mouth. What had gotten into her? Getting flustered over being called cute by a complete stranger? _Get a hold of yourself, Kurosaki Yuzu_, she chided herself.

Her face still red, Yuzu stood up to go back to her room, but froze when she heard her brother's voice. "Thanks, Yukio," Ichigo whispered.

_Yukio._

She drank in the name, mentally imprinting the name onto herself. For some reason, she ached to see what the boy looked like. Dazed, Yuzu climbed up the stairs, all worries about the incident gone.

When she re-entered her room, she discovered that Karin had somehow climbed into the bed, the blanket now lying on the floor. Her soft inhales and exhales were barely audible.

Giggling, Yuzu picked up the blanket, lay down next to Karin, and covered the two of them. Still wondering about the boy with the attractive voice, Yuzu closed her eyes.

_The thing chittered in confusion._

_The impact that should have killed her felt soft, as if she had landed on air. The entire left half of her body was dizzyingly painful, and her left eye was swollen shut. With her one good eye, Yuzu observed the situation._

_Under her was some sort of transparent surface. Whatever it was, it had acted as a cushion and saved her life._

_Aggravated, the monster shot one of its pincer-like claws at her. Unable to move, Yuzu could only stare helplessly._

_With a resonating smash, the claw ran into another one of the surfaces, which materialized in front of her out of thin air. This time, it was acting as her shield. _

_Now, the monster was infuriated. It roared at the shield, pounding its claws against the seemingly impenetrable exterior. Yuzu barely heard the bellows, as her right ear was pressed into the ground._

"_So noisy."_

_A blade materialized above the monster, emerging from the hilt first. There was nothing special about the blade: it was the kind you would see in those games from a few years back. But it certainly accomplished its task. Pointing downwards, the deadly weapon pierced through the beast's head, cracking its mask in half. Soundlessly, the power-white body dissolved, flying away with the breeze._

_The world was getting blurry now. Yuzu struggled to remain conscious, dimly aware of a pair of black shoes landing near her outstretched hand. _

_Looking up, she saw that the shoes weren't all that her rescuer had on that was black. Black pants, black coat…Who wore a coat in this season, she thought to herself._

_Her eye traveled further up. The last image she had before her vision blacked out was a single, dark-green emerald of an eye._

_Beautiful._

Yuzu woke up with a start.

Her head was pounding, and the taste of her mouth made her grimace. Yuzu rubbed her eyes, and felt the remnants of her dream fade away into oblivion. Which was a pity, since she felt that this dream had been an important one, unlike most of the dreams she had forgotten. The poor girl had a habit of forgetting her dreams the instant she woke up.

Stifling a yawn, Yuzu reached out to wake Karin. All she felt was her own, still-warm blanket.

She looked to her left, alarmed. Karin wasn't in bed. That meant that Karin had woken up earlier than she had. And Karin never woke up earlier than she did.

Throwing on her school uniform, Yuzu rushed down the stairs, a sense of foreboding creeping into her heart. Just as she finished fixing her collar, Yuzu entered the kitchen to confirm her biggest fear.

Dad had made breakfast.

"Good morning, Yuzuuuu!" her dad called out in a sickeningly sweet voice. Ignoring him, Yuzu took dread-filled steps forward to look at the morning meal.

While her dad bragged to her what he had made and twirled around in his pink, flower-patterned apron, Yuzu examined in mute horror noodles with no soup, burnt toast, and a splattered mess of yellow, white, and crispy black of what should have been the eggs.

Afraid to look up, Yuzu peeked at her siblings' figures. Ichigo's face was one of intense disgust, and Karin had an expression on that clearly was not expressing love towards their father.

Her head bowed guiltily, Yuzu sat down and attempted to swallow Kurosaki Isshin's atrociously inedible cooking.

Despite the bad start, the day's morning seemed incredibly bright.

Yuzu skipped to school, humming her usual tune. Even her upset stomach seemed to sing along with her.

Because for the first time in ages, her brother was walking her to school.

"Hey, slow down, will you?" Ichigo called out.

"Okay, nee-san!" Yuzu replied cheerfully, her pace speeding up.

Sighing, Ichigo increased the length of his strides.

"Yuzu, there's no point to walking together if we're not walking together. Stick close to me."

At this point, she was practically floating. When was the last time she had spent alone time with her brother? With a giggle, Yuzu linked her arm to Ichigo's.

Normally, Ichigo would have protested. But today, he was being unusually lenient. Yuzu looked up, wondering what had made Ichigo act so nice to her today. To her surprise, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, indicating that he was deep in thought.

"Nee-san? What's the matter?"

After walking a few steps in silence, Ichigo asked, cautiously, "Hey, Yuzu. Do you…remember anything from yesterday? Anything unusual?"

Anything unusual? Yuzu went over her memories of the previous day. No, the day had been like every other boring day.

Yuzu shook her head. "Nope!"

Ichigo turned his head away, apparently relieved.

"What do you know, Urahura-san's stuff worked this time around," he mumbled to himself.

"Nee-san, did you say something?" Yuzu leaned in, worried.

"Nah. Just worried about exams."

They were at the gate now. Reluctantly, Yuzu let go of her brother, and stepped towards her school.

"Bye, nee-san! Thanks for walking me!" she yelled behind her, waving.

Ichigo smiled and raised a hand to wave back, before becoming aware of all the stares he was receiving from the passing junior high students. Every eye was fixed upon his bright orange hair.

Lowering his hand and hunching his shoulders, Ichigo started walking towards his own school.

A few hours later, Yuzu was feeling the usual déjà vu. Looking out the window, Yuzu immersed herself in her own world, dreaming up adventures and tragic romances that were far more entertaining than her teacher's endless lecture.

But even her imagination couldn't keep her engaged forever. Exhaling heavily, Yuzu scanned the fields outside, hoping to pick up something of interest.

Suddenly, her eyes became aware of something she hadn't seen before. Something that deviated from the normal, everyday life she led.

Standing on the brick wall of her school was a boy. Based on his stature and height, he was about her age. Was he a student from another school?

No, Yuzu thought to herself. No school had a dress code of wearing all black.

Leaning forward, Yuzu realized that the boy was staring at her. How he saw her from that distance, she didn't know. But somehow, she knew that it was her he was looking at.

Briefly, a light wind lifted the pale-blond hair from his face, and the sun glinted off his eyes. His eyes were green. Emerald-green.

"Ow." An abrupt pain crackled inside her head, and she reached up, reflexively. Her small cry momentarily attracted the attention of students nearby.

"Yuzu-chan, are you alright?" Daiki asked, his sweaty face wearing a concerned expression.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Yuzu replied, forcing a smile. "Thanks."

Daiki sat back down on his seat, satisfied with Yuzu's gratitude. Immediately, Yuzu swung her head around, her eyes searching for the boy again. But he was gone.

Her hand pressed against the window, Yuzu leaned forward, close enough for her breath to fog the window even in the classroom's temperature.

And at that instant, it all became clear. Yesterday. The night before. The boy.

"Yukio," she breathed, fogging up the window again.

And as the fog vanished, it took the colorlessness of Yukio's life with it, gently replacing it with the wings she had always desired.


End file.
